Chapter 26 - Mikhail
My sudden plan to head back up to Napa Valley was meant to kill two birds with one stone.
Get Laurel out of the way and pay a visit to her ex.
I foolishly thought having a full-time guard under the guise of a driver around her whenever I wasn’t would be enough to keep her safe, but now this faceless enemy was shooting down my back door.
It was a very pleasant surprise that she not only didn’t argue with me about the trip, but threw herself into the idea wholeheartedly.
I wasn’t expecting her reaction, and it meant putting off the flight and another little white lie about the plane not being ready, but I wasn’t about to turn down the thing I’d been craving for a month.
I almost wanted to barricade us both in the house, hire a contractor to dig a moat, and keep her all to myself for the rest of our days. I could keep her safe and happy, but it didn’t solve the problem for the rest of my family.
The next morning, we piled onto the jet, both of us tired but in glowing moods, considering she was recovering from yet another trauma and I was fighting suspicion and worries that her ex might be more dangerous than I originally believed.
How could we not be exhausted when we barely got any sleep because we couldn’t keep our hands off each other?
It was a surprise, but a good one, and I wanted to keep Laurel in such a bright mood for as long as possible. It was fun to spar with her, but this was more fun.
While we waited for the plane to take off, she lazed beside me on one of the jet’s couches, a glass of orange juice in her hand, teasing me about needing energy if I was going to make good on my promise to initiate her into the Mile High Club.
Seeing her smile in such a carefree way felt better than getting accolades on my first homebrew.
My father called, and she saw who it was on the caller ID, grimacing at me as I answered it. She still thought he was a controlling monster who wanted me trapped in a loveless, arranged marriage.
“What are you thinking, keeping something like that from me?” he bellowed so loud that Laurel definitely heard it. Her eyes flew wide.
“Keeping what from you?” I asked, then realized in my haste to arrange this trip, I hadn’t called him about the shooting. I’d told Aleks and my brother, and knew it would make the rounds from them, but he was clearly pissed he wasn’t my first phone call.
“Are you kidding me? I know you’re all right, but is Laurel okay?”
Oh shit, he was showing too much concern, and way too loud. I jumped up and hurried to the back of the plane before he shouted about how much he couldn’t bear to lose the new daughter-in-law he was supposed to be against.
“It’s not like you’ve ever been the hovering type,” I told him once I was out of Laurel’s hearing. “She’s fine, everything’s being dealt with.” I filled him in on the trip, assuring him I was doing everything in my power to keep her safe.
“She’s not used to this sort of thing,” he said. “She must be freaking out knowing we’re on the verge of another war.”
“No, because she doesn’t know anything about it, remember?” I said. All I needed was for him or Tati to accidentally spill my secret before I was ready. Or before Laurel was ready to hear it.
He grumbled, not agreeing with my decision, but the flight attendant waved to let me know we were ready to take off, so I ended the call.
“Was it bad?” Laurel asked, fighting a yawn.
“Not too bad,” I said, running my hand down her smooth, flowing hair. “I love when your hair is down.”
I loved a lot of things about her. I no longer thought about getting in too deep.
I was already there. If only I could shake that last bit of doubt, but that was what this trip was for.
Within ten minutes of the flight taking off, she was fast asleep, her hand tucked under her chin as she lay on the couch.
It almost seemed a shame to wake her when she looked so peaceful, but the flight passed quickly, and soon we were on our way to the resort, a different one from the last time since I was taking no chances on anyone knowing we were there.
“This is great,” she said, stretching as she got out of the car. “I don’t think I’d ever get tired of the views here. It’s really pretty where I’m from in Virginia, too, but this is so majestic.”
“I’d like to see where you grew up,” I said, meaning it.
I had never been America-crazy like Sofiya and Luk, and as far as I knew, the twins only ever terrorized Las Vegas and New York City once they were grown and tried to forget they were part of the family.
Now I could picture myself in a van with Laurel, visiting vineyards and breweries and anything else on the way to her family home.
Way too deep.
“Maybe if we make it to our one-year anniversary,” she said, blowing off the discussion when she learned I had booked two rooms instead of one.
“Don’t look so disappointed,” I said. “They’re attached, and it wasn’t like I expected last night. You would have taken my head off if I presumed to get us one room.”
“You’re probably right,” she said, popping up to kiss me before the elevator doors slid open.
“Stop agreeing with me, it’s weird,” I teased, kissing her back.
“Oh, I’m sure we’ll be arguing again in no time. For instance, where should we have lunch?”
“You pick, I’m open to anything.”
She pretended to look shocked. “You’re right, it is weird. Now I’m thinking about picking something I’m sure you won’t like.”
I lightly smacked her bottom and chased her down the hall to our rooms. She dumped her stuff in her own and said she was going to change before we headed out to the first vineyard on my list.
Sleeping with Laurel in my bed or even in the same room was something I wasn’t expecting, and as happy as I was with the arrangement, it was going to throw a wrench in my carefully crafted plan to sneak out to deal with Rand.
I had a security team lined up to watch over her while I was away from the resort, but now getting out was going to be a problem.
If only I could tell her everything.
She appeared in the doorway joining our two rooms, wearing a pretty sundress and her hair brushed out around her shoulders.
She cut a quick glance around the suite, noting the balcony and the front door, breaking my heart a little as I realized she was still shaken up from yesterday, no matter how hard she was trying to hide it.
I had distracted her, but the fear was still there.
Well, of course she was still shaken up. She had to crawl away from a hail of bullets twenty-four hours ago. That might have been an ordinary Tuesday for someone like me, but for Laurel, who was just coming out of an abusive relationship, it had to be severely jarring.
Did I foolishly think for a minute there that she’d be able to handle learning she had a lifetime of that ahead of her?
But only if I didn’t get everything under control, which I would. All I had to do was find a way to slip away from the one woman I wanted at my side all the time. And then crack some heads to fix this so she could have the kind of safe, happy life she deserved.